Room temperature vulcanizing silicone elastomers (RTVs) typically display favorable characteristics which include, for instance, excellent electrical properties as well as resistance to temperature extremes and weathering. Moreover, RTVs are often supplied as caulking materials and pourable liquids and they typically find wide uses as sealants for a variety of commercial applications.
RTVs conventionally cure by condensation, and in the uncured form, they typically display high viscosities which makes them difficult to handle and/or apply. The high viscosities are derived from the fact that the RTVs, in the uncured state, utilize a high molecular weight polymer to ensure that when crosslinking occurs, a cured composition having low modulus and high elongation results. To compensate for such high viscosities, environmentally unfriendly solvents are often employed to thin the RTV compositions so that they may be brushed on and/or sprayed in commercial applications.
It is of increasing interest to prepare compositions that do not require solvents in order to be easily handled and/or applied. The instant invention, therefore, is based on novel RTV compositions comprising derivatives of silacycloalkanes and the compositions unexpectedly display, among other things, a reduction in viscosity prior to curing, a reduction in modulus after curing and favorable cure rates.